The Bigfoot Conspiracy

Hi guys, I’m Robin from All Time Conspiracies This week we’re examining Bigfoot, the mythical ape-like creature that lurks in the forests of the Pacific Northwest

We’ll be looking at its origins, alleged evidence for its existence, and how its legend has endured for so long This is Bigfoot declassified Many academics, like anthropologist Christopher Roth, claim modern folklore about Bigfoot developed from indigenous Canadian stories about menacing “Wildmen” who lurked in forests, occasionally emerging to terrorise communities Intriguingly, there are striking similarities in the way these creatures were described by different tribes In each legend, the beast is depicted as a hulking, hairy, forest-dwelling humanoid with ferocious inclinations, and at least 6 feet tall

In 1818, these stories began to spread outside of indigenous communities A shocking report was published in the Edinburgh Advertiser It described a sighting of a horrifying carnivorous, upright baboon-like creature in the Gulf of Mexico The creature disappeared before residents were able to catch it Yet, these tales were not connected until European colonisers began recording native Canadian cultural traditions

In 1920, JWBurns, the government’s “Indian Agent” responsible for native affairs, published a series of newspaper articles about Bigfoot He proposed each story was based on factual accounts about the same beast, which he called the “sasquatch” Importantly, he was sure the “8-foot giant” was still alive

He pointed to recorded 19th century incidents of Blue Mountain hikers being violently attacked with rocks by the creature In 1958, prankster Ray Wallace decided to resurrect the legend by starting rumors it had returned to Northern California He carved an enormous pair of wooden feet and stomped across a logging camp, leaving fake hair and faeces samples to make the footprints appear more realistic and more terrifying When The Humboldt Times covered the story, they named the mysterious creature “Bigfoot” and a legend was born In the intervening years, astonishing Bigfoot sightings have proliferated, but none has yet offered proof for its existence

Some have successfully captured the international imagination In 1967 footage emerged of a Bigfoot-like beast roaming California’s Six River National Forest The minute-long film, captured by filmmakers Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin, showed the creature crouching beside a creek, before moving on and looking back at the camera The movie initially caused uproar But it has been discredited by academics like Bernard Heuvelmans, the “father of cryptozoology”, and John Napier, the former Director of the Smithsonian’s Primate Biology Program

They argue that the “Bigfoot” captured on camera was anatomically impossible Just a man in in a suit 9 years later, Cherie Darvell disappeared while searching forests for Bigfoot She emerged 3 days later alleging the creature had kidnapped her However, given that her clothes were clean and she smelled of perfume, it wasn’t long before this claim was thrown out as a publicity stunt

In 2012 scientist Melba Ketchum came to the press with evidence of Sasquatch DNA She claimed that Bigfoot was a hybrid human species that emerged 15 thousand years ago But when she published her data, there were many discrepancies that did not stand up to academic scrutiny The evidence suggested she was actually analysing straightforwardly human DNA Since then no further claims of Bigfoot’s existence have been published

This lack of evidence has changed mainstream opinions on Bigfoot Only 16% of the US population now believes there’s a possibility he exists Despite this, a strong conspiracist lobby continues to speculate on his existence Grover Krantz and Geoffrey Bourne believe that Bigfoot could be a branch of the Gigantopithecus giant ape population

They argue that fossils of this species show it might have walked on two legs Yet, as none of its full remains have ever been found outside Asia, this theory is highly unlikely Others maintain that the sheer number of sightings over time mean there must be more to Bigfoot than hearsay There have been at least 700 footprints attributed to Bigfoot These have an average width of 7

2 inches and an average length of 156 inches People who have seen the beast say that he has an extremely strong, foul odor Although Bigfoot remains the subject of great intrigue, unless authentic data becomes available there’s no hard evidence of its existence For now, the strongest case suggests 20th century European settlers invented Bigfoot to understand the traditions of the land they had conquered